Mr. Wy's Girl

We spent part of Memorial Day weekend 2011 with good friends of ours who have a girl 5 months older than Wy. I have been trying to become a better photographer so I put my camera on the M setting and tried out some pics on Miss Giselle. (Mr. Wy's girl)

Photo shoot anyone?!

Dinner Time

Date Night (at home!)

Last weekend some good friends of ours had us and two other couples over for brunch.
One couple consists of a stay at home mom with 1 child, and 1 on the way.
One couple consists of a working mom (small business owner- which is like having 1 child) with 2 children.
One couple is pregnant with their first, due in July.
Did I mention that we all got married in our thirties, 3-4 years ago? (I knew all these friends as singles)
We went around the group to give an update on what is going on in our lives. Of course, so many things have changed for all of us in such a little amount of time.
The resounding theme for those of us with kiddos? Exhaustion, little time for God and little time for our spouses.
I complained that Tim and I have only been on a handful of dates (where we have been exhausted) since Mr. Wy entered our lives....
One of our friends encouraged us to have date night once a week, even if we had to have it at home.
I liked the idea, but didn't know how it would work for us. Every night at home can be exhausting because we have to prepare dinner and clean up afterwards. (we haven't been too into take out because of the cost)
Alas, my sweet husband called me at work yesterday and said, "We are having date night tonight." The rules? No talk of Mr. Wy, household tasks, and death or dying. (ha) He sent me a take out menu and we settled on the idea of getting a prepared meal from Wegmans. For only $10 we got a garlic lemon chicken, red potatoes, and califlower. It was delish.

Our cheap $4 bottle of Charles Shaw wine in the background. Thank you, Trader Joes!

We ate our meal in our new screened in deck. (notice baby monitor?!)
I've sometimes wondered over the past 12 months what we have to talk about anymore. (besides Mr. Wy) Conversations always seem to turn to our son...and I think this happens with a lot of parents. You can slowly drift apart because you haven't taken time for each other.
I've missed my sweet husband and I was really thankful for last night. Our $10 take out didn't break the bank and I was able to connect with my best friend.
Date night is our new weekly tradition.

Shake Shack

...has come to DC! To DuPont Circle and soon to be near Nationals Stadium on South Capitol Street. They have my mom's favorite frozen custard and I'm dying to try this shake:

This is the special 'DC only' shake: The Washington Monu-mint concrete with chocolate custard, minted marshmellow, and chocolate cookie dough.
Looks delish. And they have a gluten free menu as well.
Welcome to DC, Shake Shack!

Ladies Tea

Monday was an interesting day. It was the day I hosted a Ladies Tea event here in the Capitol. This meant that my house was a cake ball factory over the weekend. Not only did I make them for the shower on Saturday, but also for the Ladies Tea.
The weekend went like this: Friday night, get Wy home and clean house. Make sure mom's room is ready because she's coming to stay. Oh- and kill flies. (we had so many and had no idea where they were coming from. Lovely, I know.) Put Wy to bed. Make cake balls.
Saturday, clean house again. Kill more flies, grab lunch from Chipotle (so that we wouldn't make the house a mess), and welcome shower guests by 1:00.
Let's skip to Sunday. Go buy more ingredients for cake balls. Go to church at 5pm and stay late. Come home and make cake balls. Realize that I forgot to buy tea for the Tea so go to the store at 9:30pm. Continue making cake balls. Sleep.
Wake up to what should be a relaxing non-working day (Mondays are my day off) to get Mr. Wy ready for the Ladies Tea (oh yes, I had no sitter for him), get food ready for Ladies Tea...and oh yes, get myself ready for the Ladies Tea.
This is the life of a working, over committed mother who likes to throw nice events. And here are the pics (that my wonderful friend Suzanne took) to prove it.

I'm there in the blue dress with Mr. Wy in tow :)

Melodie Homer, speaking on "Living With Loss"- her husband was the co-pilot of Flight 93 that went down in PN on Sept 11th.

My hands were full holding Mr. Wy and the graham crackers I used to keep him quiet. (so I didn't get any pics) My sweet friend Suzanne brought her camera and let's just say that her pics are incredible. I have so much to learn from her and she has promised to teach me. (right, Suzanne?) The Ladies Tea was in the LBJ room in the Capitol. It's one of my favorite rooms here. So beautiful.
Even though I left the Tea having had almost nothing to eat...and completely exhausted, both events were worth it. God really blessed both opportunities to meet with women, to hear of His work in the lives of His people. One lady (Stefanie) is getting married and was able to share her story with her friends at the shower- and it is a 'God story'. One lady (Melodie- seen above) is learning to live with the loss of her husband  and was able to share it at the Tea- it too, is a 'God story'. It is GOOD to be involved in His work. It is also GOOD to rest....which is what Mr. Wy and I both did on Monday afternoon. :)

Stef's Shower

This weekend I had the honor of co-hosting (with a ton of amazing women) a wedding shower for a dear friend of mine, Stefanie. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Stef with her new (soon to be) mother in law.

And here is the (soon to be married) couple. Tim and I are so thrilled for the both of them.
Mr. Wy had a blast with all the people in our house- and helped himself to strawberries, making a huge mess on his white onesie! ha.

Take Time to Smell the Roses

Monday is my day off to play with Mr. Wy. Because the weather has been so nice, we've made it a habit to walk from our house to the Metro to get Tim. (instead of driving) It's a good 20 minute walk, and it gives me time to think and decompress from the exhausting day.  This week I took my camera...

Because I'm a person who is stressed out so often, I'm really trying to enjoy the simple things: taking walks with my healthy son, seeing his face when he sees his dada after work, seeing Tim's face when he sees Mr. Wy, looking at all the beautiful flowers and homes, and feeling the fresh spring air. I'm learning once again in the midst of this busy city to take time to smell the roses.